Jim's alarm screamed obnoxiously from his bedside table. And it would just have to continue to scream. Jim's arm was completely asleep, to the point where he could feel nothing, not even pins and needles. Sy's body was draped diagonally across Jim, arms around chest and face tucked into the side of of his neck, effectively pinning him in place.
Somehow the alarm was not enough to wake Sy from his sleep.
It would have been much more adorable if the room wasn't so loud right now. Jim sighed softly and did his best to nudge Sy off him. "Come on, Sy. I just need you to scoot over a little bit."
"Don't wanna." Sy clung on even tighter; something Jim had not previously realized was possible.
"Please? Just let me put it on snooze."
"Only 'cause I love you," Sy mumbled before he rolled over, taking the blankets with him.
A smile touched Jim's lips. His heart was singing just from this small interaction. Everything felt pure, and perfect, and right when Sy was around. Even sitting in bed at an unreasonably early hour, loud alarm clock blaring, and everything from shoulder to his fingertips dead asleep. He loved it all. He loved Sy. He just needed to find the perfect time to say it to each other for the very first time.
While his boyfriend attempted his best cocoon impression, Jim eased himself upright. His arm still had no sense of feeling in it at all, and it wasn't supporting his weight. He twisted awkwardly and stretched delicately over Sy's body. It wasn't easy to lean so far without being able to hold himself up with his other arm, but somehow he managed the feat.
The alarm finally silenced.
Jim's back hit the mattress with enough force to knock a sigh from him. His adorable blanketed companion took that as a signal to snuggle right back up against him in order to get a little more sleep.
The peace lasted a blissful thirty seconds.
"Ow! Ow, oh," Jim muffled a groan as all at once his arm light up with constellations of pain. Of course it would wake up just as he was drifting back off.
"Are you alright?" Sy pushed himself up just enough to look down at Jim's face.
"Yes," Jim hissed. "My arm's just waking up."
"Oh." Sy flopped back down again. "Need me to rub your neck?"
Jim blinked several times as he tried to process the question. The obvious answer was yes, though he didn't know why exactly he might need that, beyond his own enjoyment of course.
"Jim?"
"Sorry, sure? I just don't know how it's relevant."
Sy sat up and rearranged the blankets to be draped around him but still left his arms free. He looked adorable with the blankets pulled up over his head. "Rubbing your neck or rolling your head from side to side can help stimulate the nerves that have gone to sleep and to wake them up faster. Basically it eases the tingling sooner."
"Oh." Jim scooted forward on the bed a little, his half dead arm still doing its best impression of an untuned radio. He couldn't think of a better way to describe the feeling than the physical representation of static.
Sy pressed his thumbs against the top of Jim's spine, his fingers splayed out onto the sides of his neck. Gently he started to rub, small, tight circles from the nape of his neck to the base of his skull. He worked out from there, moving towards Jim's shoulder blades in slow, methodical motions.
Jim closed his eyes. Everything about this felt so relaxing. By the time their alarm went off again, Jim's arm was back to normal, and had been that way for a couple minutes. He hadn't ever wanted this to stop.
"All good?" Sy swung his legs over the edge of the bed and took to his feet. "I should go get dressed. I'll see you at breakfast, love?"
Jim nodded. "I'll see you then."
Before Sy could leave, Jim caught him by the wrist and pulled him in for a quick kiss. As per usual, Jim checked the hall swiftly before allowing Sy to slip off and back towards his own room to get ready for the day.
The door had barely shut before Jim's tablet started going off. Jim hit the button again, expecting Sy to be standing there, embarrassed he had forgotten something essential.
But there was nothing on the other side of the door.
Jim's tablet dinged again.
The noisy device lit up as Jim unlocked the screen. A small number in the corner of his messenger app indicated what had been the cause of the notifications. He tapped it once, opening to a group chat he hadn't used in months.
Braxton 06:37
we need 2 talk
Matt 06:37
That is a terible way to start a conversayton, Braxton.
Braxton 06:37
Not wrong tho
Matt 06:37
Its no thing bad, Jim.
All right, a little bad.
Braxton 06:38
Meet my room b4 brkfst
As Jim read through the messages, another one popped up at the bottom.
Braxton 06:40
Meet my room b4 brkfst
don't ignore me
Jim sighed and swiftly tapped back his reply. He had no idea what Braxton was so wound up about this morning, but it was not a good time for his drama. Last night had been rough enough. He hadn't even been certain Sy would forgive him for what happened, but they'd somehow had a fantastic morning together anyway. What if Braxton just wanted to drag Zephyr some more?
His tablet pinged again.
Jim 06:40
I'm not ignoring you, I was busy. We can talk at breakfast.
Braxton 06:40
B4.
Jim 06:41
Fine.
He had no idea what Braxton wanted, and right now, he honestly didn't even care. He had never met anyone so frustrating, stubborn, and rebellious before. Aside from himself.
Made him respect his mother a bit more for what he put her through, if Jim was being honest. He never could have raised someone like Braxton, nor himself.
Jim dressed swiftly before heading out the door. He had to take a bit of a detour to avoid being drawn into a song and dance about not putting off projects until the last minute. Much as he respected the values the other men were belting about, he did not have the time nor patience to navigate a whole synchronized dance routine.
The door opened before his second knock. Braxton grabbed him by the wrist and drug him inside without so much as a greeting.
"Thank you for coming." Matt was seated on Braxton's bed looking more concerned than Jim had ever seen him before.
"Not like Braxton gave me much choice," Jim growsed. Even so, he claimed Braxton's chair. Spinning it around to face away from Matt, he straddled the seat and propped his arms onto the back of it. "So what's happening?"
"Zephyr's in danger." Braxton answered bluntly.
Jim just sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, counting silently in his head. "Braxton," Why did this always happen to him? "I know you are not fond of Zephyr, but you're starting to take this a little far."
"Excuse me?"
"Threatening him is not going to be productive, here. And I am not going to help you convince Sy he's in danger so you can get Sy to make him abandon his position."
Braxton frowned. "Well now I'm just mad I didn't think of that myself."
"What?"
Matt interjected to answer Jim's question. "The threat doesn't come from Braxton."
Jim blinked a few times, desperately trying to jog his memory. Since when was Zephyr in danger? So much had happened recently, he just couldn't remember this specific incident.
"Last week, remember?"
Jim jumped at the sudden sound of Varian's voice. He whipped around to the left, finally spotting the young man seated on the floor near Braxton's wardrobe for the first time since he had entered.
"Sunday, specifically. Around eight fifty. I made myself a note of it after it happened, so I could try and look further into the situation. That's what I've been busy with this week." Varian set aside the bits of metal he had been fiddling with and stood up. He wiped some grease from his hands onto the leather apron he wore. "Let me clean up a moment and I'll get my tablet out."
"Last Sunday? What happened last-"
The memory hit him hard.
'-that admiral's boy. Can't stand the little brat.'
'I'm telling you, I'm going to do something about that boy. He's sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.'
'This isn't just talk. I need to know if you're with me. That little hotshot has gone too far this time. It's bad enough he made us do all that extra effort with his little mail scheme, but now he's got me in hot water with the admiral. I'm going to find a way to take care of him. You in?'
Jim's stomach dropped.
"Ah, good, I see from your expression that you remember now!" Varian had two brightly colored orbs in his hands. Green in his right, pink in his left. Without warning he clapped hard, slamming the orbs together. A puff of purple smoke surrounded him up to his forearms. When it dissipated, the only evidence of his prior greasy hands were the two handprints on his apron.
Varian winked at Jim's startled expression. "Special formula I made myself." He proudly pressed his fingertips against his own puffed out chest. "The first chemical, the pink, reacts with the grease and dissolves it completely. The green protects your skin from being chemically burned in the process."
"Focus, Varian," Matt reminded him gently.
"Right, sorry! Anyway, I've spent most of my free time this week trying to work out what might be going on. We know that it was Gray who was the speaker threatening Zephyr. And based on the timing, my guess is that it was over what happened during the mail debacle."
Varian pulled out a chalkboard from - actually, Jim wasn't sure where Varian had stashed it."My theory is that when Sy left us that Friday, he went and spoke with Zephyr." On the board, Varian drew a square labeled "Braxton's room" before he sketched a little chalk Sy just outside it, with an arrow indicating that he had just left.
The little sketched Sky walked across the board as Varian continued to narrate. He sketched in a little Zephyr as he dictated. "The two of them discussed what happened, and Zephyr decided to escalate the situation to his grandfather."
Zephyr moved over to a chalk figure admiral, and Varian added speech bubbles over their head. "They discussed things, and Zephyr decided to preserve the video from that night." He added a hologram machine, and a small hologram orb in Zephyr's hand. "This came in handy at Braxton's hearing, as he said that the admiral was able to provide a full recording of the night, which helped sway the jury in Braxton's favor."
Matt nodded, adding in, "We think that after they got the copy of the night, the admiral may have disciplined Gray for his behavior over the weekend, which is why he was angry at Zephyr."
Varian added in a sketched Gray with a big angry frown drawn on his face. "Now Gray is out to get Zephyr," the little Gray sketch produced a knife and attempted to stab the sketch of Zephyr, "but since we know the plan, we can protect him!"
The chalk flew over the board, adding in figures of Varian, Braxton, Matt, Jim, and Sy in between Gray and Zephyr. The little Gray figure quickly ran off, leaving the group of friends to celebrate their victory.
Braxton crossed his arms. "My theory is that the admiral assigned Zephyr to be my guard, since he was involved in the whole situation, and could ensure that Gray did not retaliate against me or orchestrate a situation that would ensure my expulsion."
"It's a blessing for us, though, as it makes it easier for us to guard Zephyr from Gray!" Varian added brightly.
"We can not tell Sy about this." Jim was not one for keeping secrets from the people he was dating, but this would just stress Sy out. He knew how much Sy loved his friend, and he was already worried enough about the group getting along. He didn't need to make things worse.
"I agree," Braxton answered. "And we should avoid telling Zephyr. That man has pride and ego for days. He'd only confront Gray, and that could put him in danger. We'll just ensure that we have eyes on him as often as possible."
"We have to act like nothing is different," Matt advised. "It'll make everyone suspicious if Braxton is suddenly best friends with Zephyr. We don't want to tip off Gray that we're suspicious of his plans."
"I will, however," Braxton sighed, "Attempt to make peace naturally with him. I do not like him, but I respect Sy, and if Zephyr is important to him, I will….allow an attempt at…acquaintanceship. We will never be friends. But I suppose it will not hurt to be on neutral terms, as opposed to in opposition."
"Thank you." Jim offered a small smile. "That means a lot to me."
